Abstract

Human security made its big debut in a nineteen-page chapter in the 1994 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report, expanding the notion of security to include dimensions of food, health, community, environmental, economic, personal, and political security, with the vague and noble intention to address some of the glaring weaknesses of security policy, and shed light on the importance of the security of people. The UNDP report defined human security as ‘freedom from fear, freedom from want’, and claimed it consisted of four essential characteristics: it was universal, interdependent, easier to ensure through early prevention, and people-centred (UNDP 1994). It additionally encompassed seven categories: political, personal, food, health, environment, economic, and community security (UNDP 1994). Therefore, human security can be simply understood as security in everyday life.